Daytona to get track makeover

DAN GELSTON

Sunday

Apr 25, 2010 at 12:17 AM

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- The Daytona 500 will have an improved look.

Daytona International Speedway will be repaved for the second time in history after a pothole on the track during this year's Daytona 500 forced two delays that totaled more than two hours during the Feb. 14 race.

The repaving project will begin immediately after the July 3 Sprint Cup race, with completion targeted for Jan. 1, 2011.

"We owe it to the fans to do this now," track president Robin Braig said on Saturday.

The original plan was to repave the track in 2012. Braig said the resurfacing was accelerated because they couldn't risk a similar situation next February.

Braig said a concrete patch was poured in the area where a significant pothole developed and he was confident the July race would run without any disruption. Nationwide Series cars will test there in May.

"We fixed the one area that was under stress and we fixed that properly," he said. "It's just not worth risking it. We may as well do it now and get it over with so we don't have to hold our breath at every race."

The International Speedway Corporation's team of engineers and asphalt specialists conducted an evaluation of the track, and the board of directors decided last week to go ahead with the repaving.

Daytona International Speedway's entire 2.5-mile tri-oval will be repaved as well as the skid pads, apron and pit road. Braig said drivers endorsed the fix.

"The sooner we get a new surface down that can get some weather on it, the quicker we will get to the kind of race track that everybody wants. It is one of the most popular and important tracks on our circuit. I'm glad to see it get a facelift."

The track opened in 1959 and was repaved in 1978.

Fans who renew their 2011 Daytona 500 tickets will receive a portion of Daytona's track surface.

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READY TO RUMBLE? No wonder Jeff Gordon was sporting those dark shades this weekend at Talladega.

"Did you guys hear about the fight we got into?" Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson said. "Man, we got into a hell of a fight. Caught him good with a right hook."

OK, the four-time Cup champions didn't really rumble even though they tangled on the track last week at Texas Motor Speedway. Gordon and Johnson insist there are no hard feelings after they got into a public tiff last week after some aggressive driving and critical comments of each other over the radio.

Gordon and Johnson both said they patched up their differences and chalked it up to two drivers competing hard for a win.

"We've raced hard for years. I just never had a car that could keep up with him," Gordon said. "We've got that this year. In a way, I hope we see more of it. We don't want to be bumping and banging, but I do want to be changing positions with him for the lead and swapping those positions."

Gordon won the last of his four championships in 2001 -- the pre-Chase era. Johnson has made history by winning the last four Cup titles. Gordon, who owns a piece of Johnson's team, just hasn't been able to catch up to the No. 48 car.

That's turned the teammates into rivals -- just not bitter ones.

"There's no doubt that there's a rivalry," Gordon said. "I think people talk about rivalries in this sport all the time, and they think that it has to come from another organization."

Johnson said the pair have had disagreements before, they just haven't been so public.

"We've dealt with this before and we're going through it again," he said. "A lot of it is just because we're both very hungry and racing hard for each position."

Gordon would love to prove that he beat Johnson and win another championship. He knows the pressure is on -- especially in the Chase races -- to keep up with the defending champ.

"He set that standard here over the last several years, and that's one that we haven't lived up to," Gordon said. "It's one that I feel like we're capable of living up to this year. That's why we're going to be more aggressive, and we're going to be racing hard, and that means that we're going to upset some guys along the way."

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AIRBORNE CARS: Carl Edwards can't forget the feeling of sailing airborne up the track and into the safety fence last year at Talladega Superspeedway. His spectacular last-lap accident showered the stands with debris. One of those injured fans, Blake Bobbitt, was hospitalized.

Bobbitt will attend Sunday's race -- in a safer locale -- as part of a courageous fan program started by Edwards and his sponsor.

"Blake Bobbitt is an amazing person," Edwards said. "The thing that makes me able to kind of accept what happened there, and not really think about it, is how great Blake is and how understanding she is about the whole situation."

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JUNIOR'S SPOILER: Dale Earnhardt Jr. now knows the only thing that travels faster than a stock car is news posted on Twitter.

Earnhardt's plans to drive the No. 3 car in the Nationwide Series at Daytona International Speedway in July were revealed earlier than expected after a tweet by Darryl Waltrip. JR Motorsports was set to make an official announcement next week.

The news got out when Waltrip tweeted the news earlier this week, forcing Earnhardt to go public with it. Earnhardt said Waltrip "ruined" the announcement.

"It's unfortunate that DW uncovered that and the way it went down because we didn't want to have to announce it like this," he said. "We will do it when we had it originally planned and that is all I can tell you about it."

Earnhardt drove the No. 3 car twice before in the second-tier series to honor his father, Dale Earnhardt, who made the number famous. He was killed in the 2001 Daytona 500.

Waltrip apologized -- on Twitter, of course -- for spoiling the surprise.

"I want him to drive the 3, so when I heard he was I was excited," Waltrip wrote. "He's run the 3 in nationwide before so I was shocked he got upset!

"Thanks to all you guys on Twitter for not making me feel like a complete jerk, trust is very important to me, hated what happened! Oh by the way, did learn one thing, Twitter is a great way to get the word out, even people that don't have it know what's on it, lesson learned."

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